


Evolution of a Geek

by gumbie_cat



Category: Leverage
Genre: Character of Color, Chromatic Character, Gen, The Yuletide Con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 05:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gumbie_cat/pseuds/gumbie_cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Robots didn't sound too bad. He could put up with robots for a little while.</em></p><p>A young Alec discovers SF.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evolution of a Geek

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boosette](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boosette/gifts).



> Written as a Yuletide treat. Beta by Ryuutchi.

Alec was bored. Bored, bored, bored. And trapped, which was worse.

There were no other kids near his age on the block and his Nana wouldn't let him go outside on his own. Out of the window he could see a group of teenage boys looking impossibly grown up and cool. Alec wished he could look and talk like they did. He tried his best at school, but the other kids mostly laughed at him and if his Nana caught him looking 'indecent' or using 'language' she'd give him a smack upside the head. Alec sighed heavily. He wanted to ask to go outside but there was no point. He knew what the answer would be.

Hearing his sigh, Nana looked up from her knitting. She'd only just started yesterday, but it looked like he'd be getting another sweater soon. Judging from past experience it'd be awesomely soft and really warm, but it would _not_ help with his problems at school.

"What're you sighing about, honey? Sounds like you've got the weight of the whole world on your shoulders."

"Nothing Nana, I'm just bored. Can I go out and play?" Alec asked, and got the answer he'd been expecting.

"I'm sorry Alec, no." Nana said. "I know you think it's just being mean, but it isn't safe for a little boy out on his own."

"I'm not little!" Alec protested. "I'm nearly twelve!"

Nana laughed. "Right you are. My mistake. You still can't go out on your own though." Alec groaned. "What do you want to go out there for anyway?" Nana asked him. "Ain't nothing more interesting out there than in here."

"If it's so boring out there, then how can it be dangerous?" Alec asked.

"Nice try, but my answer isn't gonna change. If you want to go somewhere why don't you try reading one of my books? A good book can take you somewhere else while you're reading it, somewhere far more exciting than the end of the block." And with that, Nana picked her knitting back up, a sure signal that the discussion was closed.

Defeated, Alec got up and went to poke at the bookshelf. There was no point trying to talk to her again for at least an hour. Nana wouldn't listen to him argue until he'd at least given her suggestion a try, no matter how silly it seemed. A book couldn't take you anywhere. Sure, sometimes the stories he had to read for school weren't bad, but you were still sat looking at words on a page when you could be outside having real adventures instead.

Alec'd never really paid attention to Nana's bookshelf before and it still didn't seem all that interesting now that he was looking. There were loads of recipe books, and a copy of the Bible, of course. One shelf was full of books all with the word 'Classic' on the cover somewhere and watercolor paintings of girls in fancy dresses. Alec put those back on the shelf as if they were on fire. Nana looked over at that.

"Try the next shelf down. Should be one called _I, Robot_, might be more your speed," she told him.

Alec found the book she was talking about and took it back over to his seat by the window. Robots didn't sound too bad. He could put up with robots for a little while.

By the time Nana called him for dinner Alec was a convert. He hadn't noticed her put down her knitting, he hadn't noticed her turn on the lights when it got dark. Just as Nana had promised, Alec had been miles, _light years_, away. He'd been to New York, Mercury, deep space and he wanted his own robot more than he'd ever wanted anything in his life. The idea of them was perfect: all they did was follow instructions, but if the rules were applied properly you could make them do anything. They might do seemingly crazy things, but it all made perfect sense when you understood how the rules worked.

It wasn't long, maybe a month, before he'd read all the stories on the bookshelf. After that, Nana took him to get a library card so he could read all of their books too, and branch out from Asimov. And when he finally got a chance to use one of the new computers that had just arrived at his school he remembered that you could make a machine do anything you liked as long as you understood its rules. There were no Three Laws of Computing, but it still wasn't long before Alec was as good at understanding computers as Powell and Donovan were at understanding robots. He was much better at causing trouble than fixing it though, and thought his way was more fun.

Years later, Alec had grown up and moved out. He really wasn't a little boy any more, but he was resigned to the fact that his Nana would always, always see him that way. He knew she didn't approve of a lot of his choices, but he also knew she loved him anyway. Still, he made sure to take a few honest jobs here and there and only used that money when he bought stuff for her. The compromise had worked for them so far. This year for her birthday he was bidding online for an Asimov mint first edition. He patted his computer fondly. It was faster and more shiny than anything he could've pictured at twelve, but it still worked the same way, followed its own rules. He had his very own Multivac too: the internet would tell him anything he cared to know as long as he could figure out the right way to ask his questions. He even had the robot he'd always wanted, smaller than he used to picture but working hard to clean his floors even as he sat typing.

There was no question: living in the future was awesome. But dammit, he was tired of waiting for his flying car.


End file.
